One Day It Gets Better, One Day It Makes Sense
by All-music-is-beautiful
Summary: A collection of one shots about love, friendships and problems that your favourite group of teens face now that they're 16. Some short, some long but hopefully all worth reading.
1. Star Gazing

**AN: I'm officially re-obsessed with this musical! I own nothing.**

I just listen to her chatting to my mother for a couple of minutes. Even from upstairs in my bedroom I can hear the enthusiasm in her voice as she asks my mom about her day. I chuckle to myself before pushing open my bedroom door to stand at the top of the stairs. My mom and my girlfriend are both standing at the front door. I grin at Patrice and she smirks back. "Right, well, I'll leave the two of you to it then. Patrice, honey, will you be staying for dinner?"

She smiles, "That would be wonderful Ms Goldman"

"It's been three years, Patrice, how many times do I have to tell you it's Ruth to you?" My mom chuckles and leaves the room. As soon as she's gone, I grab Patrice's hand and practically drag her upstairs. She laughs "Okay, okay I'm coming!" I laugh too and help her up onto the roof. We sit with our legs dangling over the edge and no matter how many times my mother tells me that it's dangerous up here, we still clamber up because we've both agreed the air up here is somehow clearer. "So how was your flight?" I asked, wrapping an arm around her. She leaned into me and her eyes fluttered shut. She didn't answer for a while but eventually she mumbled, "Long. I missed you." I smiled, "This was the first time you've ever gotten to leave Appleton and all you can say is the flight was 'long'?" I smirked down at her and she shrugged. "It wasn't that great really, my Granma fell asleep as we were cutting her cake and my cousin was being a right pain in the butt"

"I guess your Granma's 90th birthday wasn't going to be a life changing experience." She grimaced, "No, not really." I chuckled. We sat in comfortable silence for a while and Patrice moved to lie on her back so she could stare at the stars. That's one of the few things I love about Appleton, in New York it was always too polluted to star gaze, but here it's always perfect for spotting various constellations. Some nights when Patrice comes round we have a mini competition to see who can spot the first constellation. Patrice usually wins… Smiling at this thought I lie next to her. I'm quite a bit taller than her so my feet still hang of the edge of the roof but it's reasonably comfortable. "Ursa Major" She mumbles as she points to the constellation in the stars. "No fair! I wasn't ready!" She just laughs and points to another "Cassiopeia, the Queen of Ethiopia," She gives me a smug grin and I just laugh. "So how's your week been?" I shrug. "Boring, Archie's still not out of hospital so I went to visit him quite a bit." She nodded and rested her head on my shoulder. "School was boring, Lucy and Kendra had a bit of a fight, but when aren't they fighting? I think it was over a cheer or something. Oh, and Robert from poetry club kept reminding me that your poem for the 'National Poetry competition' is due on Monday. I missed you though. I mean don't get me wrong as much as I _loved_ eating lunch on my own every single day, it's great to have you back." She laughed and we just lay in silence, occasionally pointing out the odd constellation or sharing a kiss.

AN: That wasn't terribly cheesy was it? ;) Leave a review if you have any story ideas x


	2. Just Keep Walking On

**AN: This ones a little more serious I guess. But it does have inspirational message I suppose. Don't forget to review! I own nothing. Enjoy.**

I pretend it doesn't get to me; the constant taunting and name calling I receive on a daily bases, but really it hurts. It nearly hurts as much as it does when they knock Archie of his crutches or when they punch Evan in the stomach as we walk past and there's nothing I can do to make it stop. Of course the three of us have decided that we're above all that. Once we're older and more successful than them then who'll be laughing? But lately it's becoming harder and harder to remember this sentiment; especially when I walk into the bathroom to find 'NO HOBBITS' spray painted over all the cubicles. Or when I'm walking through the corridors, hand in Evan's, innocently chatting away to my two (and only) best friends, and some obnoxious cheerleader slams our books onto the floor, sending the homework I've spent days on, flying across the hallway. And what can we do? Stand up for ourselves and just get it worse the next day? So instead we pick up our books and continue down the corridor as if nothing ever happened. Maybe none of them bother to think about the fact that Archie's dying and spends 80% of his time in and out of hospital or that Evan went through the toughest year of his life last year with his mum and dad fighting over the phone every night (he was lucky to arrive at school with four hours of sleep) or that maybe every time they call me names or pinch me as I'm walking past or trip me up or complain that I'm all bones or too skinny or that my face is ruining their day, I go home and cry until I'm numb. I'm trying to remind myself that all this will be worth it in the end. After all, the time I spend away from school with Evan and Archie is the best of my existence; I just have to remember that all this will be over soon. One day I won't even remember their names. One day I won't even remember the time when I was 16 years old and getting bullied for things I couldn't control. But the thing is, I will always remember. This will always scar my memory of what life was like as a teenager but hopefully when I'm 30 I'll look back and be able to remember all the things that were good in my life as well.


End file.
